Venturing into the Japanese investment market with Mebiopharm

In many ways, Mebiopharm's investment experience is illustrative of the challenges facing the bioventure sector as a whole in Japan, or indeed anywhere else. The need to secure sufficient funding and maintain momentum for lead pipeline projects will no doubt sound familiar to the management of any startup looking to commercialize new technology.

The Tokyo-based drug delivery venture was founded in 2002 with just JPY10 million ($101,900) in seed capital provided by its four founders - three academic oncology and pharmacy specialists with expertise in